We welcome this move. We have tremendous confidence in the three brave men who have reported being abused by Fr. Gerry Howard in Boonville. We hope that the judge also lets into evidence Howard’s guilty plea in New Jersey.

At the same time, however, we strongly urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Howard’s crimes to come forward. Police and prosecutors can never have too much evidence or too many witnesses in a clergy sex abuse trial. Pedophile priests typically get top notch lawyers and exploit technicalities, often escaping responsibility for their crimes or getting little or no jail time if they are convicted.